


you don't know how lovely you are

by isacabral



Series: you know i'm such a fool for you [1]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Oh my god they were quarantined, and they were quarantined, oh well, this got way longer than i was expecting, week one: enemies, weekly bechloe challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:14:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isacabral/pseuds/isacabral
Summary: It wasn't that she disliked Beca. It had more to do with the fact Beca seemed to go out of her way to grate on Chloe's nerves and it was absolutely maddening.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Series: you know i'm such a fool for you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708975
Comments: 20
Kudos: 198





	you don't know how lovely you are

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to get rid of the writer's block that was preventing me to keep working on my multi-chapter fic and somehow ended up with almost 4k of... this. thank you anonymous rabbit for fixing it up!
> 
> hope y'all enjoy it.

Chloe has lived with a fair share of crappy roommates in her life. There was the exchange student from France that lived with Chloe and her family for eight long, grueling months her senior year of high school that used to shed as much as their golden retriever, always clogging Chloe’s shower and sink drain and never bothering to clean after herself.

Then there was her freshman year at Barden — she got stuck with Liberal Arts students that left their paint supplies scattered everywhere and ended up staining beyond repair Chloe’s favorite pair of jeans. Sophomore year was the stoner who ate her way through Chloe’s groceries for an entire month. As a junior, she found herself sharing a cramped three bedroom apartment with two guys whose general idea of cleaning differed _a lot_ from Chloe’s — she spent the better part of that year in the library anyway.

Her senior year was only slightly more bearable because she managed to bunk with Aubrey after Dirt One and Dirt Two bailed out on their shared apartment — but Aubrey had _other_ problems that made living with her a tad more stressful than Chloe was hoping. Between co-captaning the Bellas and graduating with honors to get into a good Law School, Aubrey had a nervous breakdown every other week and Chloe found herself trying to help her to keep her breakfast down on a daily basis.

She needed to move out for the sake of their friendship.

By the time Chloe finished her pre-med requirements and prepared herself to start medical school in the fall, she was sure she had learned how to handle other people’s rudeness and lack of consideration, taking it all in stride and remaining her usually upbeat, cheery self. After all, interpersonal relationships were hard, especially throughout the taxing experience that was earning a college degree.

Yeah, Chloe definitely had this whole getting-a-crappy-roommate thing down to a science by now.

Or so she thought. Then she met Beca Mitchell.

//

It wasn't that she disliked Beca. It had more to do with the fact Beca seemed to go out of her way to grate on Chloe's nerves and it was absolutely maddening.

She had that whole ‘don’t-fuck-with-me’ attitude going on, a permanent scowl etched into her features, pencil sharp eyeliner no matter the time of the day and some scary spikes adorning her ears. She cared more about her headphones and stupid mixing equipment than she cared about doing the groceries or cleaning after herself.

_And_ she actively ignored everything Chloe did to try and make their shared living space a nice environment to live in.

“Third time this week!” Chloe growled into her phone where she was FaceTiming Aubrey. “She never does the dishes, Bree! Ever! Not even loads the dishwasher! I’m not doing them this time." She scowled at the pile of plates and bowls in the sink before her. "I don’t care if those dishes sit in the sink until they’re all covered with—”

“ _Why don’t you kick her out?_ ” Aubrey interrupted, twisting her nose at the mess in the sink and the counter. “ _Kick her slob ass out and we can work something out_ …”

Chloe sighed deeply, feeling like she has had the same conversation with her best friend over and over again. Which she has. At least four times a week every week.

“Because I can’t afford this place on my own and you won’t be able to handle the two-hour commute to your work and internship,” Chloe said in a weary tone. “We’ve been over this, Bree.”

Before Aubrey could argue her case, Beca slouched her way into the kitchen, hair up in a messy bun, eyeliner as sharp as ever and a bagel dangling from her lips. Just the sight of her was enough to make Chloe’s blood boil.

“Beca,” she said sharply, in a tone that she knew Aubrey would approve. “It’s your turn to do the dishes.”

“No can do, Red,” Beca didn’t even look at her when she answered, opening up the fridge and drinking the juice — _Chloe’s_ grape juice — straight from the bottle. “I’m late for work.”

“I’m not doing them this time!”

This time, Beca turned to give her a blank stare, “I don’t care.” 

And then she left, leaving Chloe behind with a ridiculous amount of dirty dishes to clean that most certainly would make her late for her first class.

“ _Are you sure you don’t wanna kick her out?_ ”

//

Sharing a living space with Beca Mitchell was only made slightly bearable when Chloe got to go out for classes and work; even grocery runs were a much welcomed respite. Anything to get her out of the house and away from Beca.

But it seemed like the universe had other plans.

//

When the shelter in place orders came out, Chloe knew she was about to enter her own personal brand of hell. One that involved being locked inside her home with Beca Mitchell until further notice.

//

The first three days went by pretty much the same way all the others did. After running to the grocery store to buy everything they could possibly need — Choe had to go to three different stores just to find toilet paper — she rushed back home and spent the rest of her time scrubbing every room and available surface they had on her hands and knees while Beca did… whatever it was that she did locked up in her bedroom.

At some point during the fourth day, Beca finally came out of hiding just as Chloe was finishing making some mac and cheese for lunch. She looked like she had just gotten up, her eyes only half-open, make-up smeared and her hair looking like a rat’s nest. She looked confused to see Chloe.

“Why aren’t you at work?” she questioned, her voice raspy.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Chloe replied sarcastically, grabbing a bowl to plate her lunch.

Beca just kept staring at her, brows etched together in confusion.

“They’re asking med students to help,” she finally said. “Aren’t you one?”

Chloe knew Beca _knew_ she was a med student. She had made several sarcastic remarks in the months they’d lived together about it.

She really wanted to go out there to help, it was the main reason why Chloe had chosen to become a doctor in the first place. But as always, it seemed like the world had other plans for her.

She debated whether or not to explain herself further. Ultimately, she supposed Beca didn’t really _need_ to know the whole story. “I… can’t go,” Chloe admitted. “I’m immunosuppressed.”

She didn’t feel like elaborating any further and, besides, it’s not like Beca would care anyway. 

Beca simply hummed in acknowledgment, grabbed a bowl for herself and toppled it with Chloe’s food, not saying anything else as she walked back to her room. Chloe suppressed a sigh. At least she was respecting the quarantine.

//

The next day when she woke up, Chloe saw the same bowl Beca had used drying on the rack by the sink. Maybe Beca was doing more than just respecting the quarantine.

It didn’t change anything, though.

//

Over the weekend, Chloe was trying to catch up with the workload of her online classes — the ones that could be transferred to an online platform anyway — when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

Standing at the threshold was an extremely uncomfortable looking Beca.

“Can I help you?” Chloe asked, holding back the amused smile that tugged at her lips at the sight.

Ever since Beca had moved in, not once had she done anything that required her to come and knock on Chloe’s door.

“I ordered pizza,” Beca mumbled, almost like an unwanted confession.

“Good for you,” Chloe teased. “Will that be all?”

She was turning back to her computer when Beca’s question caught her off guard. “Do you want some?”

“What?” Chloe was stunned; was Beca being… nice to her? For no apparent reason? The world really _was_ coming to an end.

“Nevermind,” Beca rolled her eyes in annoyance, turning her back and leaving, confusing Chloe even further.

Apparently being forced to stay inside could really drive people insane in the weirdest of ways.

//

The next day, instead of spending the whole day holed up in her room, Chloe actually _saw_ Beca since she decided that their tiny center table in the living room was as good as any place to settle and… do whatever it was Beca did on her computer all day.

It’s not like Beca had ever volunteered that information. Then again, she had never bothered to ask.

Beca and her laptop became a constant fixture in the living room after that.

//

“ _Ricochet, you take your aim, fire away, fire away…_ ”

Chloe sang along absentmindedly to the music coming from Beca’s computer — she didn’t bother with headphones — while she mixed the ingredients for her grandma’s infamous snickerdoodles recipe.

She was just so _bored_.

Chloe lad lost count of which day it was around the third week of being home-bound. But for the first time since she started undergrad, she was actually caught up with all her work — being unable to do practice labs was really a time-saver — and now Chloe found herself with an unusual amount of time in her hands.

So she was baking.

“ _You shoot me down but I won’t fall… I am titanium…_ ”

Chloe was so distracted by her baking that she didn’t even notice Beca had stopped the music and was looking at her like she had just sprouted a second head.

“You know David Guetta?” Beca’s eyes were wide in apparent shock.

“Have I been living under a rock? Of course I know David Guetta,” Chloe sneered. “That song is my jam.”

Beca snickered but it lacked its usual scorn. “That’s nice.”

Chloe was feeling torn when it came to Beca. Ever since she had learned Chloe was staying home for the quarantine, she had been acting less like a complete asshole and more like… well, more like an actual decent human, sort of.

So it couldn’t hurt to offer an olive branch, could it?

“I’m making snickerdoodles,” Chloe said, eyeing Beca carefully for a reaction. “Want some?”

There was a pause and, for a moment, Chloe thought Beca would actually take her up on her offer. But then,

“I prefer chocolate chips.”

Chloe rolled her eyes; of course she did.

//

“Do my eyes deceive me or is Beca Mitchell loading up the dishwasher?”

Chloe really thought she was hallucinating; maybe after three and a half weeks of being locked up in her cramped apartment her brain had finally given up on her?

“Haha,” Beca laughed sarcastically. “I finished off your stupid cookies. Was just trying to be nice.”

“Well, that’s a first,” Chloe grumbled, earning herself a glare. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” Beca rolled her eyes and, for the first time in a very long time, the action didn’t grate on Chloe’s nerves.

In fact, she found it kind of adorable; Beca looked like a grumpy raccoon.

“I’m getting pizza tonight,” Beca said, still sounding grumpy. “Want some?”

Chloe paused to think for a moment. “Do I get to pick a topping?”

There was a hint of a smile on Beca’s face as she turned to go back to the living room. “Don’t push it, Beale.”

//

True to her words, Beca didn’t let Chloe choose any of the toppings on the pizza. But Chloe thought there were worse things than a pepper and sausage pie. At least it wasn't Hawaiian.

She had managed to get control over the remote, however, and put on a channel that was running a _Parks and Recreation_ marathon. She was half paying attention to them struggling to walk across an ice rink and half trying to covertly watch Beca as she scarfed down her pizza. This was probably the longest period they spent together without bickering. Or just being in the same room, for that matter.

"Stop staring at me," Beca said around a mouthful, causing Chloe to blush and snap her attention back to the TV.

"I'm not," Chloe denied uselessly. "I was just… wondering."

Beca eyed her wordlessly for a moment before asking. "Wondering about what?"

Chloe bit her bottom lip, unsure if she should say what she really wanted to say. But, of course, her honesty won in the end, like it always did.

"You," she answered sincerely.

Chloe could have sworn she saw a barely-there blush cover Beca's cheeks before she reached for another slice of pizza.

//

By the end of their first month confined, Chloe had had it. She was a social butterfly, one who liked helping people, being serviceable and enjoyed meeting _new_ people and making friends. She lived for public spaces. She could honestly cut off her left arm for small talks in a long Target line right now. It was in her nature, who she was. And there was only so much video chatting could do.

Unfortunately, at the moment, there was only one person who could be the recipient of Chloe’s social personality type. And she wasn’t one really open to friendliness and being sociable.

“What the hell are you doing?” Beca questioned when Chloe sat next to her with a six-pack of beer and a bottle of whisky.

“ _I_ am drinking,” Chloe said. “And _you_ are drinking with me.” Her tone left no room for arguments.

“Why?” Beca was clearly bewildered by Chloe’s actions but Chloe was past the point of caring.

“Because I said so.”

Beca cursed under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like ‘bossy’, rolling her eyes, but reached for a beer anyway. Chloe didn’t even bother hiding her smile.

//

“What are we listening to?” Chloe asked, not recognizing the tune coming from Beca’s laptop.

“Oh,” Beca grimaced, scratching her nose in what Chloe could now recognize as a nervous tick. “That’s… my music. An arrangement I’ve been working on.”

Chloe’s eyes widened; Beca worked with music? She knew Beca _worked_ , she wasn’t living with a complete stranger. She also knew Beca was an intern at a big company a couple of blocks from their apartment. She just had no idea any of that involved music.

“I didn’t know you were into all this,” Chloe whispered in awe. “And that you were so good,” she admitted hesitantly. 

Beca grimaced. “It’s just some mashups with a few added layers. No biggy.”

Chloe frowned. Beca didn’t strike her as the modest type about anything, let alone something she was _actually_ good at.

“Why are you selling yourself so short?” she asked softly, reading Beca’s face for anything that might give away what she was thinking.

Surprisingly, Beca let out a snort and downed her beer. “I’m not drunk enough for this shit.”

“Well,” Chloe smiled mischievously, reaching for the whiskey bottle and the two solo cups she had grabbed on her way from the kitchen. “I think we can fix that.”

//

“My dad never believed in me,” Beca said after emptying half of her cup in one go. “He thinks I should have gotten a college education before coming to L.A.” Beca finally admitted after they’d polished their six pack. “But I wanted to experience the _real_ world and start paying my dues so I could start producing music, y’know?” She brought her solo cup to her lips and took a slow sip. “So after graduation I packed my things and came here.”

To say Chloe was surprised was an understatement. Sure, this kind of rebellious attitude from Beca wasn’t exactly news but the motivation behind it certainly was.

“I got a job at a shitty twenty-four hour diner and managed to DJ at a few clubs here and there but nothing too steady. No one wanted to hire an underage DJ,” she laughed humorlessly, drinking a bit more. “But now, after four years, I’m here! I got an internship at this incredible label, that can really put me on the right track and… my boss hates me.”

Chloe bit her tongue to hold off the borderline mean remark she wanted to make and took a sip of her drink. “How come?”

“He says I don’t have an original voice,” the dejected tilt in Beca’s voice tugged at Chloe’s heartstrings harder than she was expecting. “And who knows? Maybe he’s right. Maybe everybody is right. Maybe I just suck.”

“I don’t think he’s right,” Chloe said before she could stop herself.

“You don’t?” Beca turned to look at her, smirking as she took another sip of her drink.

“Nope,” Chloe slurred a little; a telltale sign she wasn’t exactly sober. “I think you’ve got spunk, you've got attitude and your music needs to show that, y’know?”

Beca hummed, finishing off her drink. “So you like music?”

“Duh,” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Back in college Aubrey and I joined this acapella group called the Barden Bellas.”

After hearing that little piece of information, Beca turned to look at Chloe with a wide, disbelieving smile on her face. In the back of her mind, Chloe noticed how cute it was.

“What?”

“Acapella? I can’t believe that’s a thing now,” Beca chuckled.

“Oh totes,” Chloe’s smile was wide. “We sang covers of songs without any instruments. It was all from our mouths!”

“Yikes,” Beca grimaced, still amused. “Overkill, dude.”

Chloe shoved her playfully, reaching for Beca’s laptop before she could protest. “We were the tits. I can show you.”

//

Beca cried actual tears of laughter after watching Aubrey blow chunks on the audience at Lincoln Center.

Chloe attributed the warm feeling in her chest to the alcohol coursing through her veins.

//

They had made a pretty good dent on Chloe’s whisky bottle in a few hours. It was safe to say they were both considerably drunk by then and _that_ was why Chloe was resting her head on Beca’s shoulder. It had nothing to do with the way she’d caught Beca’s eyes lingering just a little too long, a little too intensely to be considered casual. 

Music was still playing through Beca’s laptop’s speakers but it was more ambient noise as they talked about the most random of things. Well, Chloe was doing most of the talking with Beca’s occasional sarcastic responses. She even shared details of her life willingly and asked a few questions in return.

“So when did you decide to become a doctor?” Beca asked after Chloe went off on a tangent debating the pros and cons of becoming a surgeon or pursuing a career in a research field.

“After my transplant,” Chloe answered after a silent minute. “I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy when I was seven. It was pretty severe and the meds didn’t really work, so I got a heart transplant. It was pretty scary,” she sniffled and felt Beca blindly search for her hand to give it a supportive squeeze. “But I had really amazing doctors taking care of me and they made me feel so safe and taken care of. I knew right away I wanted to make people feel that way too.”

“That’s nice,” Beca murmured. “Is that why you can’t go out? In the middle of this whole shitshow, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Chloe grumbled, mildly annoyed every time she thought about how helpless she currently was. “I’m more likely to get an infection and my body will have a harder time fighting it off,” she took a sloppy sip of her drink, a little bit of it dripping down her chin. “My parents just think I’m a coward.”

“What?!” Beca turned her body towards Chloe, pulling back to be able to look each in the eyes. “Why? Are they crazy?”

“No,” Chloe shrugged. She was used to being dismissed by her parents at this point. “They just don’t like that they can’t brag about their _doctor_ daughter being _heroic_ during a crisis.”

“That’s fucked up,” Beca grumbled, a scowl darkening her features.

Chloe’s whole life had revolved around how _her_ achievements could provide bragging rights for her parents. It was never about Chloe, it was always about them.

“You’re no fucking coward,” Beca kept her drunk rant going. “You lived with Aubrey for a whole fucking year!”

At that, Chloe couldn’t hold in her laughter; Beca had made a good point there.

//

“Aww, no, all the alcohol is gone.”

Beca’s whiny tone as she shook the bottle, trying to get the remaining drops onto her empty cup — and failing — elicited a giggle from Chloe.

“Maybe that’s our cue,” she said with a laugh. “To get up. And go to bed.”

“I don’t wanna,” Beca pouted and if Chloe didn’t think she was cute before she definitely did now. “I’m having _fun_.”

Chloe gasped exaggeratedly. “Did Beca Mitchell just admit to having fun? With lil ‘ol me?”

“Oh fuck off,” Beca shoved at Chloe’s shoulder weakly. “Can’t help it if you’re fun when you’re drunk.”

“I’m always fun!”

“Yeah right,” Beca snorted. “You’re a nagging bitch.”

“What?!” Chloe screeched. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I… I’m not that bad!”

“Yes, you are,” Beca said, nodding. “It’s why I made it my personal goal to test your patience as much as possible.”

“I _knew_ it!” she pointed an accusatory finger at her roommate.

Maybe if Chloe was less drunk, she would have taken a bigger offense in what Beca was saying, trying to deny and defend her actions. After all, most of it was justified. But she guessed Beca was partly right in her complaint; Chloe had been so scorned with crappy roommates before that she never even gave Beca a chance before assuming the worst.

“But it’s all cool now,” Beca continued, ignoring Chloe’s exclamation. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said sheepishly. “I guess I didn’t make things very easy for you.”

“Me neither,” Beca shrugged apologetically. “I was totally intimidated by you. I mean, you were so hot and mean—”

Wait. Hold on a second.

“You think I’m hot?” Chloe interrupted, taken by surprise with the statement.

“Dude, yeah,” Beca sighed.

The way her eyes raked over Chloe’s body as she said it, licking her lips almost absentmindedly, set Chloe on fire. When Beca locked eyes with her, Chloe could see the want, the _lust_ within them. It made a pool of pure desire settle low in Chloe’s belly, heavy and coiling on her insides rapidly. She moved to straddle Beca’s lap quickly, crashing her lips against Beca’s with nothing more than a second’s pause. 

One of Beca’s hands worked its way onto the back of Chloe’s neck, anchoring her in place while the other wrapped around her waist firmly. She rocked her hips against Beca experimentally, relishing the moan that tumbled past Beca’s lips. Her lips traveled down Beca’s neck, leaving a wet, hot trail in its wake. 

She didn’t know if this would be anything more than an ill advised one night stand brought on by the copious amounts of alcohol and the weeks spent in isolation but as she stared down at Beca, reduced to a panting, needy mess beneath her, Chloe found she didn’t really care.

“So being an annoying little brat was just your idea of foreplay, huh?” Chloe whispered into Beca’s ear, smiling.

She didn’t resist the urge to trace her tongue around that sexy ear spike she’d been eyeing for months now.

Beca puffed out a ragged laugh, smirking.

“Just shut up and kiss me, woman.” 

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think here or at snowonebutyou on tumblr!


End file.
